


Fever Dream

by LuneFaitLaFolie



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Christmas, Get Together, Holidays, Homophobic Language, M/M, NSFW, chowder is a hero, derek thinks he is a bad person but is not, dex stops being a bad person, dexs family fucking suck, major character death in a dream, nurseys mums are babes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 04:25:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13450500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuneFaitLaFolie/pseuds/LuneFaitLaFolie
Summary: Dex cuts ties with his family in an effort to grow as a person.Derek thinks Dex has been abducted by aliens, or he is having a fever dream. Either seems viable.Chowder helps solve everything, oh and Dex gets a tattoo and adopts a fox...In that order.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nursey still needed to pack some stuff but he wasn’t stressed. Dex of course had everything packed with his toiletries in a bag in the bathroom, and his clothes to wear on the train draped over the desk chair. At least, that’s what it looked like when Derek left hours ago.
> 
> Now..?
> 
> Well.

Derek was stuck at the door of the room.

He had texted Dex saying he was going to be out for most the night, probably until midnight or later and not to wait up.

He had been at a poetry slam, the last for the year, and he spent the final hours of the night having farewell holiday drinks with his out of hockey friends.

He and Dex were the only two left in the house, everyone else already home for the holidays. Nursey’s flight left in the morning at 11, and Dex’s train departed at 9.

Nursey still needed to pack some stuff but he wasn’t stressed. Dex of course had everything packed with his toiletries in a bag in the bathroom, and his clothes to wear on the train draped over the desk chair. At least, that’s what it looked like when Derek left hours ago.

Now..?

Well. Clothes were stuffed back into the draws, and some were on the ground, some still in messy piles in his open suitcase.

Dex’s laptop was back on the desk, and all his shoes were messily piled on the shoe shelving they got when they moved in together. Derek would bet that if he went into the bathroom all his toiletries would be half unpacked, he couldn’t check though, because Dex was in the shower. At 1:30 in the morning.

What the fuck.

Derek changed into his black sweats and packed the clothes he had worn, adding some shoes he knew he would want to wear back home.

The shower turned off.

He prepared for the worst.

Dex stepped out, towel wrapped around his waist and hair dripping, eyes red, and a surprisingly relaxed demeanour.

Derek was significantly more confused now.

“Oh hey, I didn’t hear you come in, you have a good night?” Dex asked, lazily walking to the draws, pulling on boxer briefs and Samwell sweats.

“Yeah, yeah I had a, uh, great night. You seem chill. Shower at 1am your way of calming down?” Derek replied, still confused to the max.

“Yeah, sometimes I just need a relaxing shower with some lush shower jelly you know?” Dex replied.

Lush? LUSH? Dex had never used Lush in his life, Derek was beginning to think Dex had been replaced with an alien clone.

“Since when do you use Lush?” Derek asked, he couldn’t keep the judgemental and questioning tone out of his voice.

“Since always.” Dex replied, like it was a simple, normal, fact.

“I’ve never seen a Lush product that myself or Chowder haven’t bought in that bathroom.” Derek explained, he felt like this was some kind of fever dream.

“I always keep my lush products in my toiletry bag, I don’t want you guys stealing my shit.” Dex replied, huffing a laugh.

“Right, um, what’s with the unpacking?” Derek asked, leaning more towards fever dream and less towards alien clone.

“Oh, I’m not going back home now, plans fell through, got my tickets refunded.” Dex explained, never mind, definitely aliens, Dex hadn’t stopped stressing about going home for months.

“Wanna elaborate a bit there buddy?” Derek asked, sitting down on his bed.

“I don’t wanna go home, never do, and my family were being dicks so I decided to stay home these holidays, simple.” Dex explained with a shrug before climbing up to his bunk.

“You’re gonna stay here all alone?” Derek asked, walking to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Dex sat on his bed and watched him.

“Yeah, fix all the stuff on my list that I haven’t had time for, take up heaps more shifts at work, paint some of the walls in the haus, catch up on all the therapy sessions I haven’t had time for, go running, enjoy the quiet.” Dex listed off, laying down as Derek turned off the lights.

Therapy sessions, that seemed new.

“How long have you been going to therapy man?” Derek asked, aiming for casual but the nosey was probably shining through.

“Since I got here bro, anyways, see you in the morning. Night.” Derek could hear Dex roll over.

Derek pressed himself against the wall and looked out across the room, his head spinning with thoughts, in the space of about five minutes Dex went from a person he near hated to confused maybe acquaintance.

He plugged his phone in to charge and set and alarm. As he lay there trying to fall asleep he noticed Dexs laptop still open, probably processing some code that Dex was playing around with.

(Dex had once explained that his computer’s hard drive was old and struggled with the coding software he used – Derek zoned out for the rest of the conversation because Dex had gone on about computers and he did. not. care.)

In the moonlight he could see Dex had pulled off the giant conservative sticker from his laptop. He could see the sticker that used to just stick out from underneath it, but had never bothered to ask what it was. In small black writing, on a white little rectangle, a little  **#lgbt**  sticker was on William Poindexters laptop

Definitely a fever dream.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I just got sick of all the shit my family say you know. I always just faked a smile or a laugh or just lied and pretended to agree with them. I just couldn’t do it anymore."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *homophobic language ahead*

Derek woke to his alarm at 8:45.

Opening his eyes to the room, Dex’s laptop was now shut, his clothes were all packed away in the draws, and he had organised his shoes. Derek could see his phone charger hanging down as well indicating that Dex had taken his phone and left the room.

He got up and quickly showered, got dressed and finished packing up everything. He was lugging his duffel bag downstairs when Dex came through the front door.

Covered in sweat, in sweats and a Samwell hoodie, Derek could see the band of Dex’s under armour as he stretched.

“Who the hell goes running when it’s going to snow?” Derek asked, filling a pot with coffee.

“Needed to clear my head, running is the easiest way to do it.” Dex explained, walking to the tap and filling up a glass.

Derek pulled out a chair from the table and Dex stood stretching out his calves, they stayed in comfortable silence.

Derek poured himself coffee into a travel mug and booked his Uber.

“So what happened last night man?” Derek asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

“I dunno, I just got sick of all the shit my family say you know. I always just faked a smile or a laugh or just lied and pretended to agree with them. I just couldn’t do it anymore.” Dex explained with a shrug. Getting up and pouring himself a coffee into the mug he had gotten from Chowder for Christmas, it had lobsters on it.

“Fair enough I guess, you sure you’re going to be fine on your own?” Derek asked. Yesterday morning he would not have asked, he would have said bye and left, not caring. But, well, Derek was starting to get the feeling that Dex wasn’t exactly the person he thought he was.

“Yeah man I’ll be fine, will probably do me good, peace and quiet to sort through all my thoughts.” Dex replied.

Dex nodded to the window, “Is that your Uber?”

Sure enough Derek’s phone vibrated with the notification from the app.

“Well seeya man, have a good Christmas break, I’d tell you not to burn the haus down but I think you’re the only one living here who wouldn’t.” Derek said, part of him wanted to go for a hug, but they weren’t exactly that close, Derek still wasn’t sure enough of Dex’s views to really want to be friends with him.

“Nah I won’t burn down the place, have a good flight bro, say hi to your moms for me.” Dex said walking past, fist bumping him as a good bye on the way past.

And what? Say hi to his moms. Dex usually avoided the topic of his mums, but then well, the sticker on Dex’s laptop… fuck Derek was confused.

None the less, he grabbed his bag and walked out the haus and into his Uber and left for the airport.

Derek spent the flight writing out his newly forming thoughts on Dex, knowing that if he didn’t get it onto paper he would be awake all night thinking about it.

His Ma picked him up from the airport, they had hugged and cried and then got pizza on the way home. His Mom had been called into work, being one of the best brain surgeons in the country was great but it meant he didn’t get to see her very often.

Derek went up to his room and unpacked some of his stuff, plugged his (very dead) phone to charge and set his laptop up on is desk. He noticed his Ma had left a bottle of lavender oil with a little post it note ‘ _to help you settle_ ’. Derek dropped a few drops onto his pillow and then sat on his bed against the window and waited for his phone to turn on.

The notifications came in instantly.

The group chat.

_Shitty: Yo Dexy boy, I thought you were going home this morning??!?_

_Chowder: Wait you’re not back home?!!!!?_

_Dex: long story short, plans fell through, all good though gonna chill and man the haus_

_Dex: How’d you figure out I wasn’t home?_

_Shitty: snapchat map bruh_

_Lardo: Cool insta post Dexy_

_Holster: BRO SINCE WHEN DO YOU DO PHOTOGRAPHY???????_

_Dex: since always lmao, cheers lards_

There were more messages but snapchat notifications started coming in so he looked at those.

There was one from Chowder of his face with like nine double chins captioned ‘ _I just had a four hour nap #rip_ ’. One from Holster of himself and his little sister singing along Moana, and two from Dex.

The first, a photo, a very close up of his frowning face, captioned ‘ _I think there’s a fox in the backyard_ ’ followed by a video of the haus backyard, zooming in on a fox captioned ‘ _spotted_ ’.

Derek found himself huffing a laugh, and took a smirking selfie to send back to Dex, captioned ‘ _felling foxy dexy_?’ and shut the app.

Derek then took a photo of outside his window, and opened Instagram to post it, notifying everyone that he had made it home. After posting it he scrolled through his Instagram feed and came across a very rare sighting. A post from one William Poindexter. The photo, a screenshot of what looked like a black and white photography account was captioned ‘ _When you find an old film camera in a store so you can actually start posting on your photography insta again._ ’ tagged with an Instagram account.

_@willonfilm_

Derek opened the account.

 **William.**  
**Yashica Mat 124G.**  
The world may not be black and white but this account is.

Literally what. That did not sound like the kind of bio Dex would have, but well… There it is. Derek scrolled through the posts, all beautiful shots, clearly all from Maine. Derek loved them. He scrolled back up to the top and noticed that the most recent post, from 2013, had heaps of comments. Expecting them to be from the SMH he scrolled through to read, boy was he wrong.

_@Jarred123 Oi cut the photography bullshit you aint that good lmao_

_@willonfilm fuck off Jarred_

@Jarred123 nah, I should tell dad ur goin out doin this photography crap instead of working

Dad? This must be one of Dex’s asshole brothers, from what Derek knew there were two others as well.

_@willonfilm I do both_

_@Jarred123 nah I bet u don’t I bet you just do this fag shit_

_@willonfilm its not fag shit you asshole_

_@Jarred123 I’m fuckn telling dad, he’s gonna trash that piece of shit camera_

Well, that explains Dex’s absence from the account.

Reading through other comments on the photos came up with similar themes, Dex’s brothers telling him that photography was for gays and that he shouldn’t do it. Derek was more and more beginning to understand Dex’s exhaustion and stress about going home, and his subsequent staying back at the haus.

Derek flicked back to Dex’s normal insta, his bio had changed there as well.

Previously it had said, ‘ _William ‘Dex’ Poindexter. Samwell. Hockey_.’ Straight to the point and very Dex. Now, well.

 _Dex._  
Ice Hockey. Comp-Sci. I fix shit. Confused.  
@willonfilm

Derek was starting to get an inkling that Dex wasn’t as straight as he had previously thought. Or this was in fact the most intense fever dream ever.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wait he talked to his family? That can’t be good..

He was reading when his phone vibrated. At first he thought it was a phone call, but it was just two texts coming in one after the other.

_Chow Chow: Hey did Dex seem okay to you when you left? I know you guys aren’t that close off the ice but I’m kinda worried about him… I looked at that photog insta he has and his family is like, insanely homophobic…_

_Derek: I mean, I think he was crying last night after he talked to his family? He got out of the shower at like 1 in the morning and his eyes were really red but like, he seemed the most relaxed I have ever seen him tbh._

_Chow Chow: wait he talked to his family? That can’t be good.._

_Derek: yeah I think so, he said he had enough of all their shit and that’s why he stayed home, don’t tell the team tho……_

_Chow Chow: would never_

_Chow Chow: maybe he’ll have some money now.._

_Derek: what do you mean maybe he’ll have some money now?_

_Chow Chow: dude you were there when he told us???? He sends like all of his money home to help his parents out, I don’t think they really need it but they guilt all their kids into sending money back, Dex could probably afford to live off campus but he sends all his wages home, dude is practically the manager of the pizza joint at this point_

_Derek: Dude I had no idea that’s fucked, maybs he will stress less now tho…. When did he tell us that??_

_Chow Chow: like a week after you guys moved into the haus and you asked him about why he leaves his laptop open all the time, he told us it was so his programming stuff could process, I asked him why he couldn’t replace his laptop or his hard drive and then he explained the whole sitch_

_Derek: oh yeah I remember that… I stopped listening… whoops_

_Chow Chow: of course you did lmao_

_Derek: Do you reckon he freaked out about sharing with me because of his brothers?_

_Chow Chow: Cos of his whole family dude, I don’t think you were there the day one of his cousins came down to visit, she doesn’t live back in Maine, lives hella closer, and was checking up on Dex for the family, apparently he’s the ‘problematic one’ for coming to Samwell – she saw Shitty’s pride wrist band and told the whole family and all of them refused to come down and visit…_

_Derek: That is fucking horrific – I always thought he was just like, racist and homophobic and just trying to be chill around everyone so he wouldn’t get kicked off the team…_

_Chow Chow: nah not at all, I mean, over time hearing all the shit from his parents some of it stuck, he talks to me about race stuff all the time, and usually Shitty or Bitty about LGBT stuff, more Shitty over messaging when he needs time to word stuff a certain way, and I think he and Bitty bake and talk.._

_Derek: huh, never knew that…_

_Derek: wait why didn’t he talk to me about the race stuff? And the LGBT stuff????? I’m his roommate wouldn’t it be easier????????????_

_Chow Chow: He tried once, you took in kind of the wrong way and yelled at him, it was after he and Bitty made that lemon tart thing, he came and cried in my room later about it, cos he thought he was being racist and I had to explain to him his wording was kinda shit, then he apologised for crying because “crying wasn’t manly”, Shitty heard him and took him out to the reading room, they were out there for hours, don’t know what Shitty said but it seemed to help…_

_Chow Chow: u don’t know any of this tho_

_Derek: WHAT??!?!?!?!?!_

_Derek: WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME????!??!_

_Derek: (of course wouldn’t tell a soul)_

_Chow Chow: I dunno you seemed to get over it and usually when I try and correct you about stuff w Dex u get defensive….. speaking of, why aren’t you now?_

_Derek: I had the sudden realisation that maybe Dex isn’t as big of a dick as I thought and you are confirming that and I am STRESSING_

_Chow Chow: He did used to be a dick tho, he’s learning, he wants to be different, I think he always wanted to not be an asshole but genuinely didn’t know how cos he was surrounded by his family/always going home to them, I mean he always goes home and comes back really asshole-ish for like two weeks, I think he goes for like hour long runs to clear his head then he’s back to normal.._

_Derek: How did I not notice this_

_Chow Chow: I think you really cemented your idea of him in your head and the little things he did seemed huge and the growths he made became kind of insignificant_

_Derek: …right, so when the fuck did you get so much wisdom?_

_Chow Chow: when I needed to start giving Dex pep talks on how not to turn into his brothers_

_Derek: …_

_Derek: fair_

_Chow Chow: I gotta go dinner is ready, I’ll talk to ya later bro_

_Derek: cya bruh_

Right well that was an information over load if he ever had one. Derek forgot that there was even another text on his phone because his Mom came home and there was more crying and more hugs and more pizza. They watched every episode of The Get Down, something they wanted to watch together as a family and didn’t get to sleep until five in the morning.

Derek woke at 11 to the smell of waffles and fresh fruit.

He unlocked his phone and saw the tiny little red 1 next to his messages. Right.

It was a text from Dex, and… What?

_Dex: Hey does @Inkmann on insta seem like a trustworthy tattoo artist? Ur the only one on the team with tats, figured you’d know the most_

Derek in some kind of confused trance opened Instagram and searched for the account. He seemed great, clean lines, good colouring, even proportions.

_Derek: uhh yeah the dude seems really good, why?_

_Dex: why do you think lol, I’ve had a tattoo plan for ages but never had the money – now I do._

_Derek: fair, whats the plan?_

_Dex: you’ll have to wait and see, cheers man_

Definetly an alien clone.

_Derek: no probs, how’s the haus?_

Apparently now he was making small talk.

_Dex: good, went for another run, managed to fix the thermostat so the heating shouldn’t turn off every hour. Cleaned out the chimney and got it safe to have a fire going. Cooked, bought food to make myself a Christmas feast. Took some photos of the fox._

_Derek: THANK GOD the heating thing was driving us all mad. Fox still hanging around huh?_

_Dex: aha yeah I know lol. Yeah, probs my fault tho._

_Derek: how is it your fault?_

_Dex: …_

_Derek: Dex._

_Dex: I may or may not have guilt fed the fox._

_Derek: goddamn it Dex even I know they are pests lmao_

_Dex: I know_

_Derek: I thought you would be like super against foxes_

_Dex: I mean I am but like, he looked so sad, and hungry and cold and his coat wasn’t fluffy like it should be in winter and_

_Derek: lol, I can’t tell if that’s an ‘and there’s more’ “and” or like a tumblr “and” that indicates the end of the sentence for drama_

_Dex: probs both lmao_

_Derek: well in that case…_

_Derek: AND WHAT??!?!?!_

_Dex: ahahah_

_Dex: …_

_Dex: and it reminded me of me_

_Derek: bro that’s adorable_

_Dex: fuck off Nursey lol_

_Derek: chill Poindexter_

_Dex: rude. I’ll talk to you later, I’m about to rewatch The Get Down with Ford_

Wait what?

_Derek: Ford is still there? Also… rewatched??!?!?!?!_

_Dex: yeah, her sister moved like an hour away and her family last minute moved Christmas there, she cancelled her train tickets home and her parents are driving past tomorrow and taking her. Dude I watched it when it came out._

_Derek: Huh seems fun. Didn’t think it was your kind of show._

_Dex: r u kidding it has jaden smith in it I die_

_Derek: he ur fav actor or something?_

_Dex: or something._

_Dex: we’re starting, talk you later man._

Derek’s face hurt he was grinning so much, which, weird. And he had butterflies in his stomach, why though, he had no clue.

(He did have a clue.)

(He just wasn’t going to acknowledge it.)

(Ever.)

(Except.)

But… Well… he had said, or something.

Something.

Something could mean anything.

Something could mean everything.

Derek could be everything.

And… fuck.

Did he like Dex?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek sat down and opened a new notebook, a present from Dex (secret santa was stressful for everyone) and did something he had never done before and had previously planned to never do.
> 
> He wrote a poem about Dex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *a lil nsfw*

Derek couldn’t fucking sleep.

Every time he shut his eyes all he could picture was Dex cutting up pieces of meat and vegetables and leaving them outside the back door. He was getting weirdly emotional at the image his brain supplied.

A sad, alone, lost Dex, and a sad, alone and lost fox coming together in times of need. Derek had a feeling the fox was probably going to hang around for a while.

He had received snapchats from Dex throughout the night, some of The Get Down, with captions saying they were his favourite parts, one of Ford walking to a car, a video of Dex putting food on a plate and walking outside and placing it down before panning up the edge of the haus yard where the fox was lurking behind a snow covered bush.

One through the kitchen window of the fox eating. A bad angle selfie of Dex with the fox in the background. One of Dex in bed, a large grin on his face captioned ‘ _booked in to meet with the tattoo artists, probs gonna get it done on the 27 th’_.

He just seemed so unbelievably different. Derek would even go as far as guessing that Dex had a therapy session at some point during the day as well, probably in the morning.

Words were just circling through his head at this point.

 _‘His parents guilt him’, ‘he’s learning’, ‘he came into my room later and cried’, ‘so he doesn’t turn into his brothers’, ‘he reminded me of me’_.

Derek couldn’t stand it.

He turned on his lamp and walked over to his desk.

2:07am his watch glared at him.

Derek sat down and opened a new notebook, a present from Dex (secret santa was stressful for everyone) and did something he had never done before and had previously planned to never do.

He wrote a poem about Dex.

There was no planning, just pen to paper, thoughts out of his head.

Derek leaned into his cliché nature that he tried so desperately to avoid when writing.

_The orange of your hair shines in the sun, and for a moment I am lost in the glow._

_I forget the cold surrounding, and only see the sunset of your soul shining through._

_And then you move, and you are stark against the crystal white snow that freshly fell at your feet only moments ago._

_A snowflake lands on your nose, I watch your eyes watch it fall, mesmerised._

_There is a sadness in your eyes that I have never before seen, it was always there, and I mistook it for anger._

_I mistook you for a pest._

_Your bones turn brittle in the cold yet you insist on running along icy paths, trusting no one but those who care for you._

_My mother always told me not to judge a book by its cover._

_I don’t know why I chose your cover over your content, but I despised its art for so long._

_I should have known your cover would not match, simply an illusion you created to protect yourself from harm._

_It is such a good illusion._

_I should have known you would be so good at fooling me, you are after all, a fox._

His brain fell silent.

He grabbed some more lavender oil and dropped some onto his pillow.

“Baby come back to bed.”

Derek looked down at his notebook, filled with undeterminable scribbles. He flipped it shut and stood up, pushing his chair back and walking over to his bed.

Dex laid there on his bed, messy waves of hair falling across the pillow, chest on full show, the sheets only just covering his hips. Derek’s eyes wandered down his happy trail, and he resisted the urge to feel Dex through the sheets.

“Happy now baby?” Derek asked, leaning down to kiss Dex.

“Mm yes” Dex mumbled back, wrapping his arm around Derek’s shoulders to pull him closer.

Dex tried to push his tongue in his mouth, Derek complied immediately. He placed a hand on Dex’s chest to stabilise himself, Dex’s skin is warm to the touch.

They kissed like that for a few moments until Derek felt Dex’s hand over his, pushing it down his body.

His hand glided over Dex’s abs, feeling them tense as his hand gently moved lower and lower.

Derek expected his hand to go over the sheet, Dex most definitely did not do that.

Derek is unbelievably hard.

The next few minutes pass in a blur, Derek panting heavily into Dex’s neck.

“You with me baby?” Dex asked, leaning over and kissing the top of his head.

“Always.” Derek replied, tilting his head up to steal a kiss.

Derek shut his eyes, a brief thought of cleaning all the cum off of him and Dex passing his mind, but he falls asleep before he can take any kind of action.

Sounds in the kitchen below wake him up.

Derek smiles, and slowly open his eyes to… no Dex. It takes a second or two for reality to catch up to him, it was just a dream. He is still in New York, Dex is still in the haus at Samwell and he most definitely didn’t jerk Dex off last night until Dex came before following suit and then falling asleep with Dex nestled in his arms.

Rolling over and feeling his boxers wet and sticky is enough to get him up and in the shower. This was going to be a long few weeks.

At least he got a nice poem out of it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You hate phone calls.”
> 
> “Hello to you to Chow.” Derek replied. 
> 
> “Seriously though are you dying?” Chowder asked

**_Dex sent a message to Frogsssss_ **

_Dex: Question, if I’m running more do I need to balance it out with more weights and strength training or do you think I’m good?_

_Chowder: Your probs fine_

_Dex: I dunno I can already kind of see the muscle definition kind of, shifting?_

_Chowder: I doubt it will make a difference though, u still be fiiiiiiiine_

_Dex: lmao_

_Dex: cheers_

_Derek: At Andover we used to have protein shakes before and after running, seemed to help keep it in balance if you are stressed?_

_Dex: Sweet thanks bruh_

_Dex: I’ll get some tomorrow, snow is getting cleared today_

_Derek: there’s some in our room, top shelf, left side in my cupboard, go ur hardest_

_Dex: Cheers man_

**_Text from Chow Chow_ **

_Chow Chow: um did u just willingly offer Dex something???!?!?!?!?_

_Derek: I might have_

“You hate phone calls.”

“Hello to you to Chow.” Derek replied.

“Seriously though are you dying?” Chowder asked.

“Maybe, I can’t decide if I am having the scariest most greatest fever dream of all time or if Dex got abducted by aliens and now his clone is living as him.” Derek explained.

“What.” Chowder replied.

“I think I have a crush on Dex.” Derek mumbled.

“I KNEW IT.” Chowder yelled.

“Chow help I’m freaking the fuck out.”                     

“Why, this is like the greatest thing to happen since Bitty switched to his aunts jam recipes.” Chowder said.

“But how?” Derek replied, sighing.

“What do you mean how?” Chowder asked.

“Like three days ago I hated the guy I can’t get a crush on him.” Derek replied. Fuck he needed coffee.

“Yeah but you also thought he was racist and homophobic, and I mean don’t get me wrong once upon a time that was a pretty accurate description of him. And now you can see how much he’s changed.” Chowder replied, always knowing exactly what to say.

“Yeah that’s fair, but like, how am I meant to go and live with him for another year, fuck sake Chow last night I dreamt about him and was sad when I woke up and he wasn’t in my bed.” Derek replied. He heard one of his moms turning on the coffee machine downstairs. Thank god.

“I mean he’s done it for a yea- uh.” Chowder started.

“Wait what?” Derek asked.

“I think I hear my mum calling me.” Chowder very clearly lied.

“Does Dex like me? Chowder don’t you dare-” hang up.

Fuck.

Oh my god.

“Honey, you want coffee?” His Ma called out to him.

“Yes please,” he yelled back. “With vanilla.”

“No problems honey.” She replied.

Dex sent him a snapchat.

It was a picture of him inside the haus, cheeks rosy and remnants of snow still on his (getting kind of long) hair. Captioned ‘ _when you are so busy building the fox a kennel-like hideout in the backyard you forget your barber appointment_ ’. Immediately followed by a picture of the fox in a small wooden kennel taken through the haus window. ‘ _Guess I’m going to have long hair now – no one to tell me to cut it off now lmao_ ’.

The thought of Dex made his heart flutter, but his caption made his heart ache. How long did Dex’s family treat him like shit?

Derek replied with a picture of his desk and his closed notebook that Dex gave him, a thumbs up emoji sticker, and the caption ‘ _you are now a proud fox father_ ’.

Derek went downstairs and had coffee with his Ma, before going out and having lunch with his Mom on her break. They went to their favourite Indian place.

After, he went and met up with his New York friends that he actually liked in a small café, a poetry slam going on. He sat and watched.

“You are gonna love the next guy Derek, gingers were always your type aha.” One of his friends said.

Which was true. And the guy was incredibly attractive, but all he could do was keep comparing him to Dex, and in his brain, Dex kept coming out on top.

When he first saw Dex his heart had stuttered, Derek wanted to drool.

And then he had opened his mouth and it had all turned to shit and he definitely didn’t like him from that point foward.

Now though. Fuck.

He opened snapchat, planning to send Dex a snap about finding his doppelgänger, but his finger slipped and he opened snap maps.

Kind of bored, he searched around checking where everyone was, except, Dex wasn’t alone?

His little bitmoji was at the haus sure, but so was Josh from the men’s volley ball team? Josh was a nice guy, he did an English elective with Derek and they had done a group assignment together. He was half Nigerian? Maybe, if he remembers correctly, and then half Swedish or something similar to. He had vitiligo, most predominantly on neck and face. He was always super confident about it though, often joked that it was his parents genes fighting for attention.

He watched as his bitmoji left the haus and drove off in the little yellow car. Not bothering to question it, he took his planned snap and sent it to Dex.

A blurry photo of the guy reading his poetry, John? Jake? Justin? It was something starting with a J. ‘ _Found your doppelgänger, don’t worry your abs are better_ ’, he hit send.

Dex sent him one back almost immediately. A selfie, he was shirtless, Derek could only see his shoulders though, his skin was flushed and his hair was messy. He looked like he had gotten laid. ‘ _Would hope so, I am a college athlete after all_ ’. Derek could feel his skin crawl with jealousy. Shit.

Maybe not though. Maybe just needed help fixing something around the haus…

As he got lost in his thoughts he received another snapchat from him.

‘ _How tf do your drink this shit it’s so sweet?_ ’ A picture of his vanilla protein powder.

‘ _Bruh you have seen how I take my coffee what did you expect lmao_ ’ Derek replied, a picture of his half-drunk vanilla whip latte on the table in front of him.

‘ _No idea, but I am definitely craving some coffee now_ ’ Dex replied, a picture of his shake and a sandwich the size of his face.

‘ _Of course you do, you heathen with your bitter black coffee_ ’ Derek replied, a picture of the window next to him, you could see him smiling in the reflection.

It occurred to him that they like their coffee how they like their men (apparently), Derek likes his white, and Dex likes his black… There’s a dick joke in there somewhere.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hickeys. 
> 
> On his neck… except, Dex didn’t have any hickeys in his snapchats earlier, and there’s no way someone could cover marks so dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *major death in a dream*

The next few days continued in a similar fashion.

Derek wrote, drank coffee, hung with his friends and with his moms. Snapchatting Dex and Chowder. Christmas Eve he had burritos with his moms and they each opened a gift. His Ma opened a purse, embossed with her initials, his Mom opened a diary, designed specifically for doctors, and he opened a fountain pen, engraved with his name.

It wasn’t until that night that it all kind of turned to shit. At least for him.

He was scrolling through Instagram, and realised he had never actually followed Dex’s photography account. He opened it and saw that there were two new posts.

One, a beautiful shot of the fox jumping in the snow, he liked the post, commented a fox emoji, a camera emoji and a love heart. The second post though, well the second Derek had no idea.

He opened the post – a set of five photos.

_‘Blooms’ by me._

Dex hadn’t previously stated “by me” on any of the posts, he was confused.

He also couldn’t figure out what the photos were of, they looked like abstract paint splotches, or maybe macro photography of a flower, but Derek didn’t think that Dex could do macro photography with an old film camera.

It was the fifth photo that he figured out what it was.

Hickeys.

On his neck… except, Dex didn’t have any hickeys in his snapchats earlier, and there’s no way someone could cover marks so dark.  He flipped back through. The third photo gave it away. Just at the edge, a peek of dark skin.

Josh.

Derek couldn’t bring himself to like the post.

He went to bed. Sad and jealous.

He woke up cold.

He opened his eyes, his window was open, snow falling through onto his bed. He tried to turn his lamp on – seemed like the power had gone out.

Derek could hear talking, muffled through the walls. It sounded like a male voice, who the hell was in his house? He was the only guy that lived there.

He grabbed his phone, 5% battery. Shit.

He turned on the torch and followed the sounds of the voices, down to the kitchen. He stopped just before the archway, his light flickered and went off. Dead phone. The voice still sounded muffled, and Derek could hear sniffling. Derek prayed, anything but his dad, anything but his dad. He creeped forward and… _oh god_.

Dex was sitting on a chair where the table usually was, tears streaming down his face, duct tape over his mouth. Derek could faintly see ropes around his arms. There was snow on the floor.  

Under the chair sat the fox, skinny and shaking. From the cold or fear, Derek couldn’t tell.

He rushed forward.

Dex panicked at first, but stopped when he realised who it was.

Derek pulled of the duct tape off, and pulled the rag out of Dex’s mouth.

“He’s going to come back hurry, hurry, he’s going to come back.” Dex mumbled, rushed and crying.

Derek shushed him and began untying the ropes.

He helped Dex stand.

Suddenly there was an arm around Dex’s neck, and Derek panicked.

Dex was going to get strangled.

“You should have been nicer to him.” The man said to Derek, finally showing his face.

Josh.

He pulled his arm away suddenly, Dex gasped. It sounded wet.

Dex gripped onto Derek’s arms unbelievably tight.

All Derek could do was stand and watch the blood begin to rush out of the slit in Dex’s neck.

His blood soaked through his shirt, the soft white tee that he sleeps in during Winter.

His grip loosened.

He fell into Derek’s arms.

Derek fell to his knees as Dex collapsed.

The last thing he heard was the sound of Dex’s head cracking against the tiles.

_Derek has never sat up so quickly in his life._

His window was shut, his lamp turned on when he flicked the switch, his phone was plugged in charging, 94%, he was cold, but only because he had managed to kick off his quilt during his sleep.

He took a few seconds to breath, still not sure if he was going to throw up or not.

He picked up his phone.

3:12am.

_Derek: I’m sorry for how I treated you the past two years. It was unfair of me to judge you and to not allow you to grow and learn. I’m sorry for being such a massive dick._

His reply came instantly. What was he doing awake.

_Dex: You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. I was an asshole. And yeah you were a bit of a dick but I was also a racist and homophobic piece of shit. I should be the one apologising here not you._

And, well.

Derek’s head hurt.

_Derek: I guess. Still, I’m sorry._

_Dex: I would tell you not to say sorry you haven’t done anything wrong but you seem determined to apologise._

_Dex: I’m sorry too. What I did, what I used to be like was terrible and there is no way of going back and changing that but I’m trying to change what I do now. I hope one day you can forgive me for how I used to be._

_Derek: …_

He shouldn’t say it. He’ll probably regret it when Dex uses it to steal pie.

_Derek: I’ll always forgive you._

_Dex: …_

_Dex: I’ll remember that when you tell me not to eat the last slice of pie._

Predictable.

Derek couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

_Dex: why are you even awake right now? It’s three in the morning_

_Derek: I could ask you the same_

_Dex: I asked first_

_Derek: …_

_Derek: woke up after a weird dream, couldn’t fall back asleep._

_Derek: you?_

_Dex: can’t sleep_

_Derek: do you know why_

_Dex: yea_

_Dex: thinking about how great life would be if I just deleted my family out of it_

_Dex: like if I just opened fb and deleted them all._

_Dex: blocked their numbers. The whole shebang._

_Derek: do it._

_Dex: what_

_Derek: do it. They clearly make you more miserable._

_Dex: but…_

_Dex: but family is so important._

_Derek: family doesn’t necessarily mean blood related._

Derek woke in the morning to sound of the coffee machine.

Christmas day.

He checked his phone.

Numerous group chat messages, texts, and snapchats. He opened Facebook, and checked Dex’ profile, sure enough, his friends lists had dropped by about 70. Derek searched, no more family members.

He felt a little proud.

He opened up his snapchat. He left the best till last.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays snaps came in from the all the guys in the team or who were on the team at some point. Some of his cousins, his friends in New York, and some other Samwell students he was friends with.

Then he opened Chowders.

There were two photos, one a nice selfie with all his family, clearly sent to everyone, captioned ‘ _Happy Holidays Everyone_ ’. The second, presumably sent to the SMH or himself and Dex, his normal selfie, up close with all the double chins, captioned ‘ _happi holidayz, luv yous_ ’.

Lastly, he opened the snaps from Dex.

First, a picture of a tub – usually used as an esky at kegsters, filled with what looked like soapy water, a bottle of flea shampoo next to it. The surprising part though was the fox sitting in the water, almost grinning.

‘ _He let me bathe him, I think someone may have tried to domesticate him and the given up or left him_ ’.

The next, various meals in various stages of preparation, ‘ _you bet your ass I’m making some for the fox, gonna need to name the little fella soon_ ’.

Lastly, a picture of Dex, shirtless, in front of the fire and what looked like a newly painted wall, the timer for the kitchen just visible on the ground behind him. ‘ _happy holidays nurse, keep warm_ ’.

Derek stared, eternally grateful that Dex doesn’t have his snaps set to a time.

He sat in bed, shirtless, messed with his hair a bit, pulled back his curtain for better light, and sent a shirtless selfie back.

‘ _merry christmas dexy, you too_ ’.

He typed and deleted the pink love heart four times before he decided to keep it and pressed send.

He went downstairs.

He and his Ma spent the day watching Christmas movies and cooking (note, Derek sat and watched, he is not allowed to do anything more than boil water and make toast) waiting for his Mom’s shift to finish.

He snapped Dex and Chowder a lot, more so Dex. Shock horror.

Dinner with his moms passed in a blur of joy and delicious food.

He laid in bed scrolling through Instagram. 

A post from Dex, on his normal insta.

A picture the fox, rolling around on a towel, in front of the kennel Dex built, now closer to the haus and undercover.

_Think I’m gonna have to name this guy._

_@DNurse NAME HIM FOXY_

_@Poindexterrr_ no_

_@DNurse YES_


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tension in the air could be cut it was so thick, both of them breathing heavy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *very nsfw*

He woke up cold. Before he could even open his eyes his was panicking, but then he felt a warm body press against his, and there were kisses being pressed down his neck.

“Wake up baby I’m horny.” Dex mumbled into his neck. Derek huffed a laugh and turned over.

But his mood soured.

“Why don’t you ask Josh?” Derek asked pouting.

Dex got a small smirk on his face.

“You jealous baby?” Dex asked smiling.

“Maybe.” Derek replied.

“I’m not yours to be jealous of though, am I?” Dex asked, swinging a leg over Derek and immediately lowering himself onto Derek’s cock.

Derek gasped, bucking up into Dex, forcing a moan out of both of them.

“Gonna make you mine.” Derek said, wrapping his arms around Dex and rolling them over. Derek started up a brutal pace, the smacking of their hips together echoing through the room.

“Yeah?” Dex asked, high pitched, almost whining.

Dex scratched down his back, leaned up and kissed him, tensing around Derek’s cock. His hips stuttered.

Dex moved his head to the side, lightly biting his ear before whispering to him.

“ _Prove it_.”

Derek woke up to his hips still making small movements where he lay.

His boxers were pulled tight over his cock, wet patch nearly soaking through to his sheets.

He honestly didn’t think he had ever been this hard in his life.

Ripping his boxers down and wrapping a hand around himself, Derek knew it wasn’t going to take much.

Imagining at first his hand was Dex’s, then Dex’s mouth, then his hole. Imagining Dex moaning his name. Covering Dex in hickeys, all over his body, neck, chest, thighs, and his ass. Kissing the moans out of Dex’s mouth. Spanking Dex, leaving his ass red and raw and bruised. Dex cumming untouched just from Derek’s cock.

Derek came.                                                                                            

Cum shooting up over his chest, some even hitting his chin, he had to bite his fist to stay quiet. It took nearly a minute before he could get his breath back. He had teeth marks in his hand.

He grabbed his phone from where it was charging, turned on his lamp and opened snapchat.

It took a moment to get the right angle, his chin dripping with cum, his chest covered, and his dick shiny and wet, still hard, not yet going down.

‘ _This is your fault Dexy_ ’

He didn’t send it.

Saved it though.

Derek wiped himself off, chucked his boxers in his washing basket and went back to sleep.

Derek woke up to a snapchat from Dex and had a minor heart attack that he had actually sent the photo last night.

It was a picture of a small plate of leftovers. ‘ _I hate you_.’

Derek replied with a messy hair, freshly woken up selfie. ‘ _Fair. Also, rude. Why?_ ’

Derek got up and peed and showered, and went downstairs to sit with his moms for breakfast, aka leftovers.

‘ _Meet Foxy_ ’. Derek expected the name to stick, what he didn’t expect was a selfie from Dex, sitting outside under the porch, with the fox, _Foxy_ , sitting in his lap, appearing to be head butting Dex’s chin in the same way a cat would.

_Derek: He’s cute, you letting him inside?_

_Dex: God no._

_Dex: You’re going to find my tattoo hilarious when I get it though._

_Derek: I knew it, ur getting the word foxy tattooed across ur forehead aren’t you_

_Dex: fuck how’d you know_

Derek smiled at his phone.

“What has you so happy this morning sweetheart?” His Mom asked.

“… Nothing.” Derek lied.

“Mhm, and when we’ll we be meeting the boy?” His Ma asked.

“Probably never.” Derek said, he couldn’t keep the sadness from his voice.

“And why is that?” His Mom asked, in the tone that she usually used when he was being stupid.

“He used to be like, super homophobic and racist. Now, eh? But I think he might not be straight… maybe, even then I doubt he would go with me, plus his family is horrific and – why are you looking at me like that?”

“This that William boy?” his Ma asked, smirking.

Derek had a shit poker face.

“Sweetheart you have a type, even we noticed that. You said he _used_ to be like that, meaning he’s changed, right?” His Mom asked.

He nodded.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“He’s going through shit with his family at the moment -”

“That won’t last forever.” His Ma added.

“I know, but I also don’t even know if he is into me. I think he hooked up with Josh from the volley ball team”, he couldn’t keep the smarmy tone out of his voice even if he tried, “plus if I did anything I would want to wait until the family stuff had settled.” Derek explained.

“Hooking up once doesn’t mean forever. Plus that’s a boy, and black boy if I remember correctly.” His Mom added.

Derek nodded again.

“I remember when we ran into his parents on orientation, you boys were off with the team getting a tour, god, I honestly think I would rather be locked in a room with Trump than them, and that’s saying something, what’s the drama with them at the moment?” His Ma said, getting up and making everyone’s coffee.

“He basically had enough of their shit, is currently cutting them all out of his life. Not talking to any of them at the moment.” He explained.

His Ma slowly turned around and… oh no, he hated that expression.

“If he’s not talking to his family… where the bloody hell is he?” She asked.

“Uh, at the haus.”

“With who?” His Mom asked, oh good, she had the same expression.

He didn’t want to answer.

“…”

“Derek.” His Ma looked very unimpressed.

“With no one.”

“Derek Nurse are you telling me you left that boy all alone it that big house while he is going through hell with this his family?” His Mom asked.

“…Yes.”

“On Christmas?” His Ma added.

“Hey don’t bring Christmas into this we barely celebrate it.” Derek defended.

“But he does.” His Mom added, voice softening.

“Well fine, I’ll guess I’ll just go back then.” Derek said, dramatically standing and pushing his chair back. He knew he was acting immature, but he felt emotional, okay?

“Okay.” His Ma said, shrugging, smiling and turning around.

His Mom went back to reading through and article on her ipad.

“Wai- what… but, but its Christmas.” Derek said, confused.

“Yeah, but we barley celebrate Christmas… Remember?” His Mom said smirking, not looking up from the article she was reading.

He stood there confused.

His Ma turned around and placed their coffees on the table. His smelt like it had extra vanilla.

“How long have you know that I was going to like him?” Derek asked both of them.

“Since we saw your face the first time you ever saw him.” His Ma said, not looking up from where she was piling her plate with food.

“A mother just knows, especially when there’s two of us.” His Mom said, looking up at him and smiling.

“But… but I hated him.” Derek said, still confused by what sounded like his moms telling him to go home.

“Yes, but some people can change.” His Ma said.

“For the worse.” He replied, being difficult.

“Or for the better.” His Ma added.

“So what are you going to do honey, be better or be worse?” His Mom asked.

He sat down and started eating from the plate he had made before he sat down.

They ate in silence for a while.

“Your ticket is booked for tomorrow.” His Mom said, finally putting her ipad down.

“I hate you both.” He mumbled through his food.

“Uhuh.” They both replied in sync.

The day passed in a numb blur of minor panic. He was going home to see Dex. What if Dex didn’t want to see him? What if they fought, what if it turned to shit? Derek was _Stressed_.

His flight wasn’t until 5pm so it gave him plenty of time to freak out.

What if he dreamt about Dex when he got back, what if he talks in his sleep, what if Dex hears it and hates him.

Derek packed.

Derek wrote.

He watched some more Christmas movies, did some online shopping in the sales, he jerked off… a lot. And thought about Dex, a lot.

His mind wandered. Where in the haus was Dex getting frisky, no one was around to catch him and yell at him or give him shit.

His mind wandered back to Josh.

What happened? Where did it happen? Did Dex fuck him or did he fuck Dex? Was there no penetration at all? Derek wanted all the answers and yet none at the same time.

He didn’t know whether to tell Dex he was coming home or not. He decided on surprising him, that way he ran less of a chance of Dex telling him to not come. Couldn’t tell him to stay in New York when he was already at the haus.

He woke up early, not sleeping very well but thankfully having no nightmares, although he would have gladly welcomed the happier dreams about Dex. Especially the ones where Dex is naked. Even more so the ones where they are naked together.

_Derek: fyi I’m going back to the haus later today. Don’t tell Dex I’m keeping it a surprise, kinda worried how he will react._

_Chow Chow: if it goes badly you can stay in my room, although I’m sure he will be glad to have the company._

_Derek: yeah I hope so, hopefully we don’t try and kill each other_

_Chow Chow: he hasn’t wanted to kill you for a long time, just you with him_

_Derek: hey he always wants to kill me when I say chill_

_Chow Chow: yeah but so do most of us lmao_

_Derek: That’s fair lol_

_Derek: …_

_Derek: Chow does he like me?_

_Derek: Please tell me the truth, I won’t tell him you told, I just need to know before I go in there ya feel_

_Chow Chow: …_

_Chow Chow: he used to, I don’t know if he still does, he knew that you hated him, that could have gotten to him eventually, I don’t know, we haven’t spoken about it in ages, his family shit has been getting worse and worse._

_Derek: Do you know if they were ever abusive?_

_Chow Chow: Just verbally, he’s pretty strong though, and has been working through it since he got here, he knows it’s not his fault but I think he has bad days_

_Chow Chow: Also I didn’t fucking tell you that, I’m saying this to you because you won’t do bad things with the information. RIGHT?_

_Derek: right! dw Chow._

_Chow Chow: What time is your flight?_

_Derek: 5._

_Chow Chow: kay, if I don’t hear from either of you I’ll presume it has gone well lol_

_Derek: talk to you later then ahaha_

His Mom drove him to the airport, they hugged and got a little teary eyed and next thing he knew he was on a plane back to Samwell.

The flight was short and boring, but passed incredibly quickly as he sat and stewed over what could go wrong.

He got an Uber back, although it took longer than usual as they needed to make some detours because snow had still blocked off some roads.

As he pulled up to the haus and got out of the car he noticed little paw prints in the snow, and watched as a fluffy orange tail disappeared around the side of the haus. _Foxy_.

It was nearly 9, and Derek was starving, hopefully Dex had some food that he could eat.

He opened unlocked the door and walked in.

“What the fuck.” He heard Dex say to himself in the kitchen, before rounding the corner and seeing Derek.

“Hey what are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming back for like another week?” Dex asked leaning against the wall, clearly confused, and definitely shirtless.

“Figured I’d come back early, got bored ya know.” Even he could hear how bad that lie sounded.

“Uhuh.” Dex said, eyebrows raised.

“Plus I was worried about you all alone man.” Derek said. He was having a hard time focusing, Dex  had a pink sheen to his skin.

“You didn’t have to, but now that you are here, I’ll get you to help me with my shoulder.” Dex said.

“Sure let me just dump my stuff upstairs.” Derek said, already walking up.

“Okay, I’ll be in the lounge.” Dex yelled up.

Derek was glad Dex didn’t freak, but he was also concerned. What did Dex do to his shoulder? Was it injured? Was he okay?

Derek took off some of his layers. His snow boots, his coat, scarf and beanie and his gloves and went downstairs in his pants and an old knitted jumper.  

And, oh.

Right.

The 27th.

“I’m surprised you got booked in so quickly.” Derek said, walking towards Dex who was facing away from him. Tattoo on show. Dex was right. He did find it funny. A near neo-traditional style, but with a minimalistic, line work edge to it.

Over his right shoulder blade a bright orange fox stood, dipping its paw into water, illustrated with simple black lines. Just below his shoulder blade, a red lobster, with bubbles going up to the water’s surface, little traces of blue and green to indicate the water. It was still pink, fresh, but stood out beautifully against Dex’s skin. Derek wanted to touch.

“I thought I would be able to reach it to moisturise it but I absolutely cannot.” Dex said with a laugh, handing Derek a giant bottle of cetaphil with a sympathetic smile on his face, almost a grimace.

“No problems bro.” Derek said, grabbing the bottle and putting some on his hand. He remembers doing it for his arm.

Derek carefully began to rub it in.

At first touch Dex hissed, Derek mumbled a sorry but touching Dex’s warm skin was intoxicating, he didn’t know how he was supposed to stop.

The tension in the air could be cut it was so thick, both of them breathing heavy. Derek was worried he was going to pop a boner. By some miracle, he pulled his hand away. He almost thought he could see disappointment on Dex’s face, but he was probably imagining it.

Surely.

Right?


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And well, Derek just had to kiss him. 
> 
> If this was a fever dream, Derek never wanted to wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *nsfw ahead*

They watched Die Hard, both of them having already watched it during the holiday season but both wanting to watch it together.

They sat on the green couch watching the tv, not at the far ends but certainly not close. It looked like Dex had deep cleaned the couch – it certainly smelt a lot better. They laid a blanket down anyways. They had a blanket each, and the fire was going.

Derek was partially leaning in the middle when Dex got up out of the blue. He walked over to the fire and added a few logs, turning around and smiling at the look on Derek’s.

“You didn’t even realise the fire was going out did you?” Dex asked, grinning.

“Not even a little bit.” Derek replied, huffing a laugh.

Dex didn’t sit down where he had previously been sitting though.

He sat closer to the middle, put his legs up onto his side, and leaned back into Derek.

Derek held his breath. Dex tensed.

Derek forced every part of his body to relax, before squeezing an arm behind Dex and wrapping it around his waist.

Dex began to relax, limp in his arms. For a moment, Derek had a horrible flashback to his nightmare, but he was warm, and Dex was not dead nor dying.

“I’m sorry I was such a shit friend.” Dex mumbled, further into the movie, eyes glazed over, not really watching. Lost somewhere in his head.

“Hard same.” Derek mumbled back, voice muffled by Dex’s hair.

They fell asleep like that. Thankfully Derek’s sleep was dreamless.

Derek woke at 7, cold, his source of heat gone.

It appeared Dex had tucked him in though, which was. Something.

Derek wobbled into the kitchen, blanket wrapped around him like a cocoon. There was a pot of coffee ready to be turned on, a little post it note on the front.

‘ _Gone for a run, cya when I get back sleeping beauty’_.

 Derek put the coffee on and went upstairs to change out of what felt like stale clothes.

Under armour, sweats and a thick hoodie were his choice, as well as thick socks and snow boots.

He went downstairs, and poured himself a cup of coffee into his Shakespeare mug. Grabbed a beanie off the table (Dex’s, but that’s beside the point) and went outside to watch the snow.

It took him two minutes to realise that the fox was in fact not out and about somewhere, but was in fact curled up in its kennel. It stuck its head out and looked at Derek, then to its empty bowl of food, and then back to Derek.

Deciding Derek was safe, and realising he wasn’t getting any more food any time soon, he gingerly walked up to Derek’s feet.

Derek slowly sat down and apparently that was all it took for the fox to trust him, jumping in his lap and head butting him and demanding attention. Derek gave it, of course.

Derek took all the selfies.

After twenty minutes the cold was just too much Derek went back inside, watching the fox go running around the backyard.

_Let it be known that Derek is not a smart man._

Derek was buttering his toast when Dex walked in through the back doors, it took every ounce of Derek’s self-control not to stare.

“Good run?” Derek asked, not looking up from what he was doing.

“Great run, hey when I get out of the shower can you do my tat for me again?” Dex asked, walking through to the stairs.

“Yeah sure man.” Derek replied, turning and sitting on one of the chairs.

“Thanks dude.” Dex shouted down the stairs.

Derek heard the hot water start up, and the shower turn on upstairs.

After a minute he heard… it.

Moans.

Dex was %100 jerking off in the shower.

Which was okay, don’t get Derek wrong, most guys choose the shower for such activities but, well.

Listening to his crush moan in the shower was not doing wonders for his sanity.

Fifteen minutes later of Derek willing his boner to go down, and (only just) succeeding, Dex came down the stairs smelling like a walking Lush advertisement.

Derek started daydreaming about showering with Dex, which did not. help.

Dex started searching for the cetaphil in the lounge room. Derek could see it from where he was sitting, knocked onto the floor and sticking out from the edge of the couch. But he most certainly wasn’t going to tell the shirtless Dex walking around looking for it where it was.

He let himself stare.

He hadn’t when he had walked in yesterday, Dex was watching his face after all, but now? He could stare all he wanted. Well as much as he could without being a massive creep.

Derek could see what Dex meant, he had gotten incredibly lean and less bulky from running. Derek loved it. It reminded him of the Dex in his dream, lithe body leaning over him before sitting down on –

Derek really needed to stop going down that track.

He looked down at his half hard cock and quickly and as subtly as he could tried to rearrange his junk.

He could see Dex stop for a second in his peripherals and prayed that Dex didn’t see him. (He did).

“You could help me look you know?” Dex said, Derek could hear the smile through his voice, all he could see though was Dex’s absolutely amazing ass as he bent over to look near the window.

“Nah, watching you is more fun.” Derek said, aiming for funny but missing by a mile.

He could just see Dex flush and bite his lip, before shaking his head and turning back around. He tried to glare at Derek, and Derek tried to glare back, but within seconds they both broke, laughing.

Dex turned as he laughed, eyes landing on the bottle. Damn. As he stood up he looked over to the kitchen, but not directly at Derek.

Derek couldn’t figure out his expression.

“Found it.” Dex said, standing back up straight and walking into the kitchen.

“Congratulations, would you like a gold star.” Derek said, joking and laughing.

“Sure.” Dex replied, grinning wide.

Their fingers brushed as Dex handed him the moisturizer and it sent sparks through Derek’s whole body.

“Turn around sexy Dexy, time to get you moisturized.” Derek said with a smile, hoping that his short breaths didn’t give away just how sexy he really thought Dex was.

Which was a lot.

Dex’s face, neck, shoulders and chest went red. He wanted to lick him. Instead he just put some moisturizer on his hand, and gently lathered it onto Dex’s tattoo.

“Could you see it from where you were sitting?” Dex asked quietly.

Derek breathed a little heavier, the small hairs on Dex’s neck moved with the force of it.

“Maybe.” Derek replied.

Derek finished rubbing it in, and Dex turned around, grabbing the bottle.

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

They were staring at each other, it was so intense, and Derek was going to do something stupid like kiss him.

_Derek was not a smart man._

“I forgot to tell you, I took photos with Foxy when you were out running.”

_Derek was a very, very dumb man._

Dex rolled his eyes at the mention of the name.

“Yeah? Can I see?” Dex asked.

“Sure.” Derek unlocked his phone and opened his photos with his clean hand. He went to the last photo he took and handed it to Dex.

“Just swipe through them.” Derek said, walking to the sink to wash his hands.

_A very, very dumb man indeed._

He washed his hands.

He was reaching for the towel to dry them when he heard Dex gasp.

He turned around confused, Dex was still looking at his phone, not swiping through the photos any more, just staring, mouth slightly open, flushed pink from his head all the way down to the waistband of his sweats.

But wh –

Oh god.

_Oh no._

The selfie he saved.

‘ _This is your fault Dexy’_.

Derek didn’t know what to do. His was frozen in place, he couldn’t move. Dex wasn’t moving either, until, he slowly looked up at Derek. Eyes dark. Derek tried to come up with some kind of excuse but his brain was empty.

Suddenly Dex moved.

Tossing his phone onto the table and stalking up to Derek. Derek stepped back, hitting the fridge. Derek was about to be stuck between a rock and a hard place aka the fridge and Dex’s fist because he was definitely about to get punched in the face.

Oh.

Yeah.

Okay.

Kissing Dex in real life was significantly better then kissing him in a dream.

It was incredibly soft considering the initiation, but firm. Derek could do it forever. Except his cock was starting to get on board and well, he wanted a little more.

Sliding his hand into Dex’s hair and giving a slight tug made the most delicious sound come out of Dex’s mouth. Derek made a mental note do it again. He tilted Dex’s head to the side and deepened the kiss, his other hand sliding down Dex’s back to his ass, pulling Dex firmly against him.

They turned, and now he could press Dex back into the wall. Dex’s hands immediately grabbed his ass and started grinding their hips together. Derek was going to come untouched at this rate.

He pulled back, just enough to rest their foreheads together.

“Date me?” Derek asked, panting.

“Yes.” Dex replied.

“I fucking hate Josh.” Derek said, not being able to stop himself.

Confusion crossed Dex’s face before realisation, then the smuggest look Derek had ever seen settled on his face.

“Derek Nurse, are you jealous?” Dex asked, grinning.

“Yes.” Derek replied. Honest.

Dex’s gaze softened, but his eyes darkened.

“Yeah, well, your dick is definitely bigger than his,” Dex said, reaching between them and gripping Derek through his sweats, he couldn’t stop the moan that escaped him.

Then Dex pulled back as far as he could, and looked at Derek through fluttering eyes, a faux-innocent expression on his face.

“Josh wouldn’t fuck me. Will you?” Dex asked.

And well, Derek just had to kiss him.

If this was a fever dream, Derek never wanted to wake up.


End file.
